The U.S. Department of Education has deep roots despite its most modern version that was created in 1979 with the Department of Education Organization Act signed by President Jimmy Carter (U.S. Congress, 1979). The goal of the Act was to improve the quality of education across the country and create focused support for educational programs (U.S. Congress, 1979). The concept of some type of federal organization regarding education began with the Land Ordinance of 1785, which set aside land for public schools ((U.S. House of Representatives, n.d.).
The freely given acreage is the first step towards the idea that the US Federal Government had a role to play in the educational processes required to maintain a democratic system. In other words, with the increased democratization of the public comes the need to educate that public. The US Federal Government followed with the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which mandated educational provisions for new states (U.S. National Archives, n.d.) thus establishing the precedent of federal oversight regarding educational institutions.
Additionally, in 1887, the Office of Education was established within the Department of the Interior (U.S. Department of Education, 2022). The date of 1887 is extremely significant in that the US was in the middle of industrialization, which greatly needed child labor, but the government deemed public education a higher priority than children crawling through the mines of West Virginia.
The main purpose of this new Office of Education was to provide federal support of educational research and maintain statistical records (U.S. Department of Education, 2022).
Obviously, in a pre-internet world, having a specific department dedicated to this data made more sense than it does today. But, the role of the federal government regarding education would significantly expand between 1887 and today. Digital databases, university archives, and federal archives have clearly replaced the need for the maintenance of statistical data by an entire government funded department.
So what does the current Department of Education do exactly? The answer to that is that “it’s complicated.”
Again, an extremely important feature of historical analysis is the contextualization of events. In 1979, when the current Department of Education was established, the world was a very different place than when the Office of Education was established in 1887. Every state and territory was expected to educate EVERY child living within their borders. Education was deemed as an important part of the citizens’ sovereignty in a democratic state.
In fact, the US continuously used public education to maintain its economic structure. We don’t have to be equal in the distribution of resources and wealth, BUT we must provide an equal opportunity to each citizen to grab as much wealth as they can.
In other words, a democratic and capitalist system works better when the citizens doing the voting are educated individuals. In the United States, creating equal access to education has been complicated. Between segregated schools that were not actually equal, figuring out how to educate children with diverse learning differences, and redefining who should be considered a citizen, we end up with a very complex system being held up by the very aching backs of professional educators.
One of the leading arguments amongst those in favor of eliminating the Department of Education is that education is a state issue because what a child needs to learn in a county in rural Georgia is different from a child being educated in New York City. That is why curriculum standards, promotion requirements, and course credits are set by states, which makes perfect sense in 1887, but does that still make sense in 2025?
Another question to consider is whether or not it is worth the money? A very rough guesstimate by my AI friend is that 8-9% of the federal budget is spent on education. If you are of the statistics and math mind, you can check out those numbers here:
Condition of Education (COE) Home So what happens if the Department of Education is eliminated? Number one is that states will have a significant budget crisis as federal funding provides Title 1 and IDEA funding (Baker, 2021). IDEA funding impacts 7.5 million students with disabilities, which is about 15% of the student population (Baker, 2021). However, this funding cannot be eliminated without Congressional approval even if the department itself is eliminated (Baker, 2021).
The Department of Education also plays a key role in maintaining citizens' civil rights in equitable access to education, which would be eliminated along with the Department of Education (Baker, 2021). The discretionary funding within the Department of Education that funds enrichment programs, wrap-around services, and academic acceleration programs will be eliminated (Baker, 2021).
Also, federal grants such as the Pell Grant could possibly disappear leaving the dream of a college degree for many students as a nightmare of trying to pay tuition fees (Baker, 2021).In my opinion, the most significant loss is the money related to research (Baker, 2021).
How can one have forward progress without applying the empirical process of scientific research? Ironically, that was the original intent of the Office of Education established in 1887 (U.S. Department of Education, 2022).
So what does the future hold for public education in the United States? I do not know. But I do know that Insight Education Academy will continue to provide access to resources and knowledge for all families.
